[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sony are one of the biggest manufacturers of condenser mics, right?

They are but I'm not so sure about the 70's. I think I have some Sony mics form that era somewhere around here. I'll see if I can find them and see how they were built.

 

[wualta]

Sony was THE pusher of the electret condenser mic in the US market in the early '70s. Audio-Technica popped in shortly thereafter. Aside from the electret telephone mic, Sony's stuff was probably the first big application of electrets that folks in the US had ever seen. So I'm voting for Sony doing a DIY. Now, did they actually pole the electrets in-house? Who knows. But Sony had the expertise and marketing motivation to find other applications for electrets. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to discover some day that Sony was making electret tweeters for domestic-market speakers.

 

[spritzer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sony was THE pusher of the electret condenser mic in the US market in the early '70s. Audio-Technica popped in shortly thereafter. Aside from the electret telephone mic, Sony's stuff was probably the first big application of electrets that folks in the US had ever seen. So I'm voting for Sony doing a DIY. Now, did they actually pole the electrets in-house? Who knows. But Sony had the expertise and marketing motivation to find other applications for electrets. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to discover some day that Sony was making electret tweeters for domestic-market speakers.

I think it was an in-house driver. The 70's Sony mics I have were electrets but in no way similar but that doesn't mean anything.

What I really want to know is what was that circuit in the ECR800 doing...? Was it a homing beacon for aliens as odds are somebody willing to pay this much for headphones would welcome their arrival...

 

[wualta]

Hee hee. Have you got a link to that auction? I'm hoping it will have some useful photos as well as a laugh.

Oh, and not to add petrol to the persistent tire-fire rumor that electrets go dead just sitting around, but the early-early Sony electret mics do have a reputation for doing just that, albeit over a period of 20 years, and the pro audio folks blame the electrets. The problem was fixed by the mid-'70s, but the reputation lingers.

 

[spritzer]

Here you go

 

[byrdwyngs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyway, the ECR-500 ... are the Cheap Stats pinups these days. With careful shopping and patience (I know, I know), you should be able to get 'em for less than 50 bux.

Yeah, unless somebody like ericj comes along and snipes you in the last few seconds

. No hard feelings Eric (now that I've had a few days to calm down

) you obviously wanted them more than I did. All's fair in love, war, and eBay auctions I guess. And there is some comfort in knowing that at least they went to another headfier.

But reading your impressions makes me want a pair even more and I can't help wishing I were the one listening to them right now hooked up to my Sony V-FET amp. Another pair will turn up eventually, and patience is something I've been practicing a lot since I started collecting vintage Sony gear. There are some great bargains to be had since most people don't think too highly of Sony, but the good stuff is fairly rare and doesn't turn up very often.
Quote:

Originally Posted by spritzer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Here you go

Ouch, Those are really nice looking but ~$550 opening bid? All of that Esprit series gear (with or without the actual Esprit logo) is probably the most collectable Sony equipment and it does tend to bring the highest prices so he just might get it. But I think I'll just wait for another ECR-500 to show up at about 1/10 the price.

 

[wualta]

Byrdwings! It really is you! Always good to have another AudioKarmer visit, and a fellow VFET owner at that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by byrdwyngs Yeah, unless somebody like ericj comes along and snipes you in the last few seconds.

You've been sniped by the best. But now that he's got one, the next one might tip your way, eh? Besides, I've been priming the guys here about the ECR for a good 2 years by now. Think of it as a release of pent-up pressure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by byrdwyngs And there is some comfort in knowing that at least they went to another headfier.

There is. And his ears are certified reliable. Plus he writes intelligently about what he owns. And he knows from amplifiers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by byrdwyngs But reading your impressions makes me want a pair even more and I can't help wishing I were the one listening to them right now hooked up to my Sony V-FET amp.

Total 1976. Can't beat it.


Quote:

Originally Posted by byrdwyngs Another pair will turn up eventually, and patience is something I've been practicing a lot since I started collecting vintage Sony gear.

Yep. Collecting Sony is good training.

 

[byrdwyngs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta /img/forum/go_quote.gif Byrdwings! It really is you! Always good to have another AudioKarmer visit, and a fellow VFET owner at that.

Yep, it's me. I've been too busy lately to post much here or on AK but I've been trying to lurk enough that I don't get too far behind on what's going on.

It's only recently occurred to me that although I've got a couple of all Sony vintage systems now, the one thing I don't have is any decent Sony headphones. And then of course it took a while to figure out which ones were worth having. Another set of ECR's will show up eventually, I'm not in a big hurry.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by byrdwyngs /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, unless somebody like ericj comes along and snipes you in the last few seconds . No hard feelings Eric (now that I've had a few days to calm down ) you obviously wanted them more than I did. All's fair in love, war, and eBay auctions I guess. And there is some comfort in knowing that at least they went to another headfier.

Since I've beaten you at this game once already, next time you see something rare that you know you want that you're afraid i might have my eye on, gimme a PM and call dibs - I'll stay away. I swear on my DT990.

I understand that my bidding habits aren't exactly sociable. But hey, look at it this way, when i beat tyre's bid on the maiors, i ended up paying something like $50 more than he would have ended up paying for them.

In any case, I have a fully functional ECR-500, so i shant be needing another.

 

[wualta]

Any further listening impressions? Any recordings that the ECRs bring to life?

Life, don't talk to me about life..

 

[ericj]

Not really, I haven't had much time to sit down with any of my cans for extended periods of time. At home at least. i could bring the akai amp & ecr-500 box & cans to work, but, that might be pushing the limits of acceptable insanity. I've considered it. Lately I have a retro-looking DIY desktop headphone amp with a USB dac behind it driving my K240DF at work.

 

[ericj]

Hey, does anybody know if anyone manufactures a socket compatible with the ECR-500 'phones?

I fear that the answer is probably 'no' because the socket in the transformer box is stamped SONY.

Since I'm leaning toward building a direct-drive amp for my various electrets (and probably electrostatics in the future) i think it'd be handy to install both stax and sony sockets on it.

The other option would be to completely staxify the ECR-500 kit. Which i guess would have the advantage of using the SR-80 with the ECR-500 transformer box, which seems to be superior to the SRD-4.

 

[spritzer]

It's probably a propitiatory Sony part. Just remove the socket and make an adapter cable and fit a Stax socket in it's place.

 

[ericj]

I was bored / unable to sleep last night and went looking for cheap sources of electret film. Accidentally stumbled across a Sony patent that seems to describe their uni-electret headphones:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=zHc...BAJ&dq=3942029

Interesting points:

They seem to support the assertion that electret films used in electrostatic transducers can lose sensitivity over time. It wasn't clear to me from reading it last night whether they meant a temporary loss due to a built up charge in the transducer or a perminant loss.

That mesh isn't a stator - it's a shield. I don't understand their logic at all, but having a bit of mesh on the outside of the transducer on either side is part of their sensitivity-conserving scheme.

They also have a very round-about way of saying that they reduce the sensitivity-stealing build up of electrostatic charge by connecting the stators together with a high-impedance resistor. They describe it as connecting the stators (and shields) together with an insulator who's insulation is not infinite, or something. I take that as meaning that the housing is slightly conductive so as to act as a many-megohm drain resistor.

 

[wualta]

Wow, thanks for finding that!

Yeah, I saw the mesh wasn't a stator when I held the driver up to the light.

Not too surprising that they mention electrets needed care to last a long time. Sony famously had problems with their earliest electret mics, many of which are now dead. Didn't make their electrets right or didn't know how. Fixed the problem by the mid '70s.

Have you found anything about the pentagonal shape of the diaphragm?

.